Portion Of 530 Will Be Called Pioneer Highway

When a portion of Highway 530 was transferred from state to county jurisdiction on April 1, Snohomish and Skagit counties collaborated on changing its name.

No longer could the portion going northwest from Interstate 5 be called a state highway.

Both counties ran a name-the-road contest for the segment about 20 miles from I-5, through Stanwood, Island Crossing and on to Conway in Skagit County.

Part of the road east of I-5 to Arlington and Darrington remains designated Highway 530.

A committee of county and city officials from both counties had 176 proposed names from which to choose.

Many would-be road names honored the Scandinavians who settled the area in the mid-1800s.

It's been a homogenous community and many descendants of the early settlers still live and farm along the road, said Mary Auld of Snohomish County public works.

Finally, they agreed on "Pioneer Highway," a name suggested by five people.

But the initial submittal was by 8-year-old Daniel Rosselli of Arlington, who has a keen interest in the history of the area, according to Auld.